


Braiding

by serenbach



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, nothing but fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:41:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22355050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenbach/pseuds/serenbach
Summary: After an injury, Aloth helps the Watcher with her hair.
Relationships: Aloth Corfiser/The Watcher
Comments: 4
Kudos: 32





	Braiding

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aban_ataashi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aban_ataashi/gifts).



> For aban_ataashi who prompted "sit still I'm trying to braid your hair" for the fluff starter prompt meme on tumblr. 
> 
> Featuring my dwarf moon godlike, Nelda.

Aloth pushed open the door to their shared room in the Luminous Bathhouse and smiled when she saw Nelda sat on the bed, leaning over the charts that she had been carefully mapping out over the course of their explorations. She was in one of the bathhouse robes, same as him, her hair loose and trailing damply down her back.

She turned to smile back at him as he entered, but her smile faded into a grimace that she tried to hide.

“Is it still paining you?” he asked, crossing the room to come and sit next to her on the bed. Earlier in the day Nelda had taken a blow to the chest from an animat wielding a warhammer as big as her torso. Aloth had heard her collarbone crack even from where he’d been standing a few feet back.

It had taken both Xoti’s spells and Nelda’s own paladin’s healing power to get her back on her feet again. It had been a long few minutes for him, since he was unable to do anything other than watch.

“It’s just a bruise now, I’ll heal it again in the morning,” Nelda told him easily, then wrinkled her nose. “Though my hair’s just going to have to drip-dry, I don’t think I can manage to plait it tonight.” She rubbed absently at her collar, and Aloth watched with ill-hidden concern. 

“Where’s your brush?” Aloth asked her, then got up to fetch it when she pointed, before settling comfortably back down behind her, easing the brush gently through her damp hair.

He didn’t often get to see her hair like this, it was usually either bundled up out of the way, or crusty with sea-salt (and sometimes less pleasant things), and he took a quiet pleasure in brushing it smooth, watching the light from her horns reflect in the white strands.

It was almost meditative, so much so that when Nelda leaned forwards just as he started on her braid it took him by surprise, and her hair slipped out of his hand.

“Sit still,” Aloth chided gently. “I’m trying to braid your hair.”

“Sorry,” Nelda said, and Aloth could hear her smile. “I just thought of a good name for that island with all the cannibals on it.”

Aloth leaned over her shoulder to look at the precise charts annotated with her careful, if uneven, handwriting. “Cannibal Island,” he read aloud. “Very succinct. And how long did it take you to come up with that?”

Nelda settled back and kept still as he started braiding again. “Naming things is hard,” she protested with a little laugh.

“You have so many pets I thought you would be used to it by now,” Aloth told her, distracted as he got to the end of the plait and realised he had nothing to tie it with.

“I’ve already used up all the good names,” Nelda said, turning her head slightly to look at her sleeping antelope. “Right, Fern?”

Aloth managed to keep hold of her hair that time and decided to sacrifice his own hair tie before all his hard work unravelled. “There, all done,” he announced.

Nelda shook her head a little, making the plait swing between her shoulder blades. “That’s perfect.” She shuffled around and knelt upwards to kiss him. “Thanks, Aloth.”

Aloth leaned over and kissed her back, mindful of her injured collarbone, and smiled. “Happy to help.”


End file.
